Divorce is painful for everyone, the parents and the children. There is no way around that. No one likes to give up or lose their home or family no matter how bad the atmosphere is and that is what happens in a divorce.

There are reasons for the divorce and therapy can help to give both parties a chance to talk about their reasons and, if possible, to work on fixing the underlying problems. If that is not possible, therapy can help to ease the process along especially when children are involved.

Divorce can be especially hard on children. Children learn about divorce from their peers at school – they all talk about how bad it is, especially with angry parents. Their worst fears drive children and teens to anger, depression, and the other feelings associated with grief and loss. (They really do fear what will happen and where they will live). This is because a divorce is actually the loss of the family unit and the full stages of grief (over the loss) are felt by everyone involved: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and, finally, Acceptance. Getting through these stages can be hard and counseling and therapy can help, for everyone in the family.

Family and individual therapy are the treatment of choice in this situation.